Nanotechnology General News

Nanotechnology News – Latest Headlines

A new class of artificial materials called metamaterials - which derive their properties from carefully engineered, nanostructured building blocks rather than from their chemical composition - may one day be used to create ultrapowerful microscopes, advanced sensors, improved solar cells, computers that use light instead of electronic signals to process information, and even an invisibility cloak.

Nongjian Tao and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have pioneered a new technique capable of peering into single cells and even intracellular processes with unprecedented clarity. The method, known as electrochemical impedance microscopy (EIM) may be used to explore subtle features of profound importance for basic and applied research, including cell adhesion, cell death (or apoptosis) and electroporation - a process that can be used to introduce DNA or drugs into cells.

Scientists at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Heidelberg created new software that rapidly learns what researchers are looking for and automatically performs complex microscopy experiments.

A new scientific discovery could have profound implications for nanoelectronic components. Researchers from the Nano-Science Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with Japanese researchers, have shown how electrons on thin tubes of graphite exhibit a unique interaction between their motion and their attached magnetic field - the so-called spin.

The American Bar Association's Pesticide Chemical Regulation, and Right to Know Committee, with support from numerous other ABA Committees, is sponsoring a January 27 afternoon conference/teleconference program entitled 'Nano Governance: The Current State of Federal, State, and International Regulation', scheduled from 1:30-5:30 Eastern Time.

Researchers have been investigating the mechanism which enables birds to detect the Earth's magnetic field to help them navigate over vast distances. This ability, known as magnetoreception, has been linked to chemical reactions inside birds' eyes. Now a team from Oxford University and Singapore believe that this 'compass' is making use of something called quantum coherence.

Purdue University researchers have reproduced portions of the female breast in a tiny slide-sized model dubbed 'breast on-a-chip' that will be used to test nanomedical approaches for the detection and treatment of breast cancer.

Microscopically small nanostructured arrays of lenses that can record or project amazingly sharp images in brilliant colors are being demonstrated by Fraunhofer research scientists at the nano tech 2011 trade show in Tokyo.